#accidents - Hello Poetry

It was the steepest hill Ever I knew. Named for my great, great Grandparents, The Lords, She was family, Especially when snow fell in winter. Not only neighborhood kids, Adults too sled her. Such was her reputation That we had to endure the arrival of An occasional station wagon Full of thrill seeking townies With their shiny, new Department store sleds. She refused to don an asphalt coat That steep she was. Coats of gravel just pooled at her feet So steep she was. One sunny, summer day Cousin Mel and I stood High upon her summit. His legs straddled my beloved Three speed bike Fully equipped with hand brakes, Narrow rims, And leather saddle. I gripped the bare steel bars Of an old wreck borrowed. No brakes? said I. No brakes! we shouted to seal the deal. Even in the foolish loose life of youth I was an all in kind of guy. Oh we flew! Flesh and steel as one, We flew! In my young life, Not in a car, It was the fastest I had ever moved, ……For twenty seconds. It was pure joy, ……For twenty seconds. Then her feet of pooled gravel Seized my front wheel and Shook it the way my dog Lucy Killed garter snakes, Seizing tails in her mouth And whipsawing the creatures with Shakes of her head so violent Their heads parted bodies. Time stopped. I lay dead. Is not complete cessation of breath ……Death? At last time did return, Kept measure of My drumming pain. So as well did breath return, Shallow, weak and wanting, Unable yet to loose a scream. My sight returned, First black, then grey, Then technicolor. I saw Mel’s face so White with fright. Awareness returned, As did feeling in my Skewed and skewered limbs, All atingle and in tangles In my bier of broken brambles. Movement returned, Mel gave me a hand, Tugging at my body, Helping me to stand. It seemed to take forever, Even working together, To free that stupid bike. I lifted up my t-shirt, Pulled it free Of blood and dirt. Those bare steel bars With a slash made a **** Ripping flesh from my chest Clear down to my belly. We walked. My front wheel was as strangely twisted as My fifth grade school teacher Who liked to push a hand down the back of my pants. Strolling our steel steeds homeward, Passing neighbor’s porches, I was seized by a sense of surreal dread. I saw one woman press hands to her head. One mother jumped Clear out of her seat, Her mouth fell gaping, Her gossip fell silent Down at her feet. My own mother ran into the street, Seized me roughly by both arms, Panic poured stinking from her pores Like the sweat of one gripped In the throes of malaria. Even I was startled by my first look in a mirror. It was clear I entered those vines headfirst, Encountered numerous thorns, Which tore a multitude of cuts All about my face and scalp, Areas rich in capillaries whose Only purpose seems to be to bleed, Then maybe bleed some more. There had been enough red rivulets That one could be excused for thinking I had somehow survived An **** of bloodletting. But dang, my belly sure hurt!

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Sep 20, 2025

Sep 20, 2025 at 6:47 PM UTC

MichaelSunBear9901

There Are Hills and There Are Hills (an encounter with blackberry bushes)

It was the steepest hill Ever I knew. Named for my great, great Grandparents, The Lords, She was family, Especially when snow fell in winter. Not only neighborhood kids, Adults too sled her. Such was her reputation That we had to endure the arrival of An occasional station wagon Full of thrill seeking townies With their shiny, new Department store sleds. She refused to don an asphalt coat That steep she was. Coats of gravel just pooled at her feet So steep she was. One sunny, summer day Cousin Mel and I stood High upon her summit. His legs straddled my beloved Three speed bike Fully equipped with hand brakes, Narrow rims, And leather saddle. I gripped the bare steel bars Of an old wreck borrowed. No brakes? said I. No brakes! we shouted to seal the deal. Even in the foolish loose life of youth I was an all in kind of guy. Oh we flew! Flesh and steel as one, We flew! In my young life, Not in a car, It was the fastest I had ever moved, ……For twenty seconds. It was pure joy, ……For twenty seconds. Then her feet of pooled gravel Seized my front wheel and Shook it the way my dog Lucy Killed garter snakes, Seizing tails in her mouth And whipsawing the creatures with Shakes of her head so violent Their heads parted bodies. Time stopped. I lay dead. Is not complete cessation of breath ……Death? At last time did return, Kept measure of My drumming pain. So as well did breath return, Shallow, weak and wanting, Unable yet to loose a scream. My sight returned, First black, then grey, Then technicolor. I saw Mel’s face so White with fright. Awareness returned, As did feeling in my Skewed and skewered limbs, All atingle and in tangles In my bier of broken brambles. Movement returned, Mel gave me a hand, Tugging at my body, Helping me to stand. It seemed to take forever, Even working together, To free that stupid bike. I lifted up my t-shirt, Pulled it free Of blood and dirt. Those bare steel bars With a slash made a **** Ripping flesh from my chest Clear down to my belly. We walked. My front wheel was as strangely twisted as My fifth grade school teacher Who liked to push a hand down the back of my pants. Strolling our steel steeds homeward, Passing neighbor’s porches, I was seized by a sense of surreal dread. I saw one woman press hands to her head. One mother jumped Clear out of her seat, Her mouth fell gaping, Her gossip fell silent Down at her feet. My own mother ran into the street, Seized me roughly by both arms, Panic poured stinking from her pores Like the sweat of one gripped In the throes of malaria. Even I was startled by my first look in a mirror. It was clear I entered those vines headfirst, Encountered numerous thorns, Which tore a multitude of cuts All about my face and scalp, Areas rich in capillaries whose Only purpose seems to be to bleed, Then maybe bleed some more. There had been enough red rivulets That one could be excused for thinking I had somehow survived An **** of bloodletting. But dang, my belly sure hurt!